


The Logs On The Fire

by Finn4



Category: Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:35:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27881577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finn4/pseuds/Finn4
Summary: Things rarely go as planned for Billy and Camila Dunne, and their first Christmas together is no exception.
Relationships: Billy Dunne/Camila Dunne
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3
Collections: Daisy Jones And The Six: A Christmas Anthology





	The Logs On The Fire

_ After the passing of my mother, Camila Dunne, my sisters and I found books full of journal entries that she had planned to turn into a memoir of her own. While we have chosen to keep most of them within our family, this particularly warming account of my parents holds a special place in my heart.  _

_ -Julia Dunne Rodriguez _

Being with Billy Dunne has been a whirlwind rollercoaster since the first time he hit on me cocktail waitressing. I used to laugh when people would say they fell in love at first sight because that always just seemed like bull to me. I mean of course when you look back at meeting the person you eventually fell in love with or settled down with...it’s revisionist history. You loved them right away. No question. 

But with Billy? I really did. And I know I did because I loved him against my better judgement and in spite of every instinct I had to run the other way. I could literally hear my mother’s voice in my ear telling me to stay as far away from Billy as I could. But, well you know the ending to this story, I didn’t. Were there times I thought maybe I should have? Sure. But not many. And honestly the hardest times were as hard as they were because I knew he was capable of so much more than he ever gave himself credit for. If you tell someone long enough that they are a failure, they start to believe it. And if they are smart...like Billy is...they use it to get away with murder. Well, not on my watch. I was going to be the person reminding him that the things I knew he was capable of weren’t just dreams. Or the way other guys made things happen. He could do it, too. He just had to get out of his own way. And I had seen him do it. 

Probably the first time was the first Christmas we spent together. 

I was absolutely in my element. Hanging just offstage as The Six wrapped up a Christmas Eve show in Philly. I had protested, only for a minute, that they agreed to do a show on my favorite night of the year. But really none of them had family plans that would have merited a reason to pass up a really great paycheck. Billy had promised that no matter what happened we would leave the gig and head straight to my parents in Pittsburgh. That we would be there in the morning. And of course, my Mexican mother had promised me that she would be waiting for me in the window...with two hot cocoas and a well worn rosary. And honestly once I was backstage, my usual cans replaced with gaudy Christmas earmuffs, I realized that all I wanted for Christmas...hell, all I wanted for forever...was Billy Dunne. And Billy Dunne playing his music. And Billy Dunne ignoring the women in the room screaming his name to turn and sing “Merry Christmas, Darling” right to me off stage. It doesn’t get much better than that.

And true to his word, as soon as they finished that song, they wrapped up the gig - without an encore even - Billy and I packed up to make the four hour drive.

Graham tried to talk us into a drink. Billy passed before I had to. Karen wanted us to come to her room for a a Christmas Eve toast. Eddie wanted everyone to share a bowl. Billy turned them all down efficiently as he bundled up and took my hand...heading for his beaten up old Dodge. It was already loaded with not just our bags but a backseat full of presents for my family. I had bought most of them, of course, but we had spent a few late nights at his place eating Chinese and wrapping them. Christmas was always such a big deal for me. And I knew it didn’t hold the same nostalgia and warm fuzzies for Billy. But man did he play along for my sake. And at some point that year? He stopped playing along. He was just as likely as I was to suggest driving around to look at Christmas lights, play Christmas tunes, or sleep under the Christmas tree as I was. It was a really magical year. And maybe the first time I really thought...I could settle down with this rock star.

Billy got my door and I slid into the freezing cold car, rubbing my hands together before leaning over to pop his door open for him. He slid in and muttered a few “shits” as he shivered starting the car. It’s sputtered a bit in the unusually frigid Pennsylvania winter.

“It’s 9:00. We can make it to your place by 12:00 if I put some stank on it...” he laughed as he teeth chattered.

“How about you take it easy and we make it alive at whatever time we get there.” I winked at him and he smiled as he pulled carefully from the parking lot.

“What time es tu madre expecting us?” Billy asked as he fiddled with a staticky radio. I rolled my eyes and chuckled at the way he liked to throw Spanish around to impress me.

“No le done, ella ya no confia en ti...” I teased back, before telling him I didn’t tell her a time. I left out the fact that I didn’t tell her a time because she was already so skeptical of Billy I didn’t want to make it worse by being late.

Billy found a local station playing Christmas music and I scooted across the bench seat to curl into him and rest my head on his shoulder. We must have been driving for twenty minutes before I realized I could still see my breath.I glanced over and noticed his hands were pink on the steering wheel. I reached for the temperature controls and noticed they were all the way up.

“Baby...I don’t think the heat is working....” I whispered, knowing he had to already know that. He inhaled deeply and then glanced in the back seat. 

“Yeah, it’s been hit and miss. Of course the coldest night of the fucking year. Open up my bag and throw some of my clothes on.” His nose was so red it made me smile through shivering teeth to look at him. I reached up and rubbed it before smiling and just settling deeper into his side. 

I had just about fallen asleep to the soothing sounds of whatever instrumental Christmas music was barely playing when there was a God awful bang and then entire car shook. I grabbed Billy and felt his whole torso tense as he fought the steering wheelto keep the car on the road. He won, thank God, but I could tell right away from the rhythmic thud and hiss that we had blown a tire. It wasn’t until we were safely off the road, tucked into some trees at the base of whatever stretch of the Allegheny mountains we were in, that he pounded the wheel good and hard and hissed the longest “mother fucking” combination I had ever heard.

I sat up and tried to gauge how he was going to react before I did. He was pulling his coat off and laying it over me before I knew much of anything else.

“Hang tight. Ok? Just wrap up in this? You ok?” I just nodded as he asked, trying to smile to settle him and not be rattled myself. He had one of those big thick Sherpa plaid coats and it smelled like him. I buried myself in it, slunk into the seat and started praying to Santa Maria and Our Lady Of The Highway and every other Saint I could think of. I could only barely make out the sounds of him walking around the car. But I heard him open the trunk and then slam it again. Pretty sure I heard him kick the bumper, too. I realized almost ten minutes had passed and I had his coat on. I hopped out of the car, walking around to find him kneeling by the rear passenger tire. Flat. Not just flat. Torn up. He was biting his nails, so I slung his coat over him and knelt beside him.

“Spare?” I whispered. He nodded yes but then shook his head.

“I loaned Eddie my jack a few weeks ago when HIS piece of shit shot crap on the way back from Ohio.” 

“Shit....” I muttered. We stared at it in silence and I leaned my head on his shoulder. 

I noticed him glancing down the road. I thought, surely a car would come by. It wasn’t that late and we were on a main road. He stood and pulled me to my feet. He wrapped his arm around me and sighed as he kissed the top of my head.

“Maybe you’re mom was right about me huh? This is a fucking mess.”

His lips were in my hair as he spoke and I revelled in it before lifting my eyes to his.

“My mom loves you. Her pretending to hate you is really just to keep herself from admitting she is as crazy about you as I am. This isn’t your fault.”

He smiled at me and I was hopeful he knew I meant every word. She did love him. Trust him? No. Love him? Yes.

“I had some big designs for that money we made tonight....” he was wistful and sad as he spoke.

“We? Like the band?” I asked.

“We...like you and me, mama. I wanted to....”

“Buy us a car?” I finished for him and he smiled that heart melty grin that could move mountains. 

“Buy us a car.” He repeated before continuing with a heavy sigh.

“Well let’s see if this piece of shit can make it a few miles down the road. The Iron Mill will have rooms and you can call your mom and beg forgiveness while I figure out what to do.”

I kissed him and realized how cold both of our lips were, but I would have taken him right there on the side of the road in that moment. We ran to our respective doors and climbed in, huddled together as he pulled back onto the road, all but dragging the back end behind us.

We made it down the road on a wing and every prayer I could mutter under my breath and pulled off at a quaint little bed and breakfast Billy must have passed hundreds of times. I remember thinking that if this was going to happen at least it happened close to a place to stay. Lots of stretches of that drive are just mountains upon mountains.Billy told me to grab what I thought I’d need for the night as he jogged to the front desk. I couldn’t help but smile to myself at the cute little lodge and cabins sprinkled around it. Christmas greens and wreaths everywhere. I chose to focus on that and not on calling my mom. 

I was slinging a backpack onto my shoulder as Billy ran back to the car twirling a key. 

“That took a little while. Everything ok?” I asked as I tossed him his duffle.

“Yeah they had a few cabins open. There’s firewood out back. And....I called your mom.”

His words made me shudder more than the cold and I couldn’t interrupt him fast enough.

“Oh Billy, no, why....”

“Because if she was going to be disappointed it might as well be with the guy that ALWAYS disappoints her. So...you’re in the clear. Merry Christmas.”

He smiled and was remarkably calm so I couldn’t help but smile and assume the phone call went better than I would have imagined. I nodded slowly as he grabbed his duffle bag and locked the car.

“Soooooooooo...what did she say?”

He had taken my hand and a bag of food I had put together, and was scanning the tree line of small cabins; distracted by trying to figure which one was ours.

“Well...she thanked me. For keeping you safe...” he glanced at me to make sure I was as impressed with him as he was with himself, and continued through a grin, “and that your dad would drive here in the morning to get us.....”

“Dios Mio...” I whispered under my breath as I felt my teeth grit and he laughed as he tightened his grip on my hand.

“Relax, mama, I told her I had it under control. Would you believe the night janitor here has a truck for sale? He said he would take most of what I made last night as a down payment and trusted I’d be good for the rest.”

“No shit?” I asked, as he laughed again, running his hand through his hair. 

“Oh no, it’s shit. I saw it in the back lot. But it’ll get us home.” 

Billy led me up the stairs and tossed me the key as he stopped to lift some firewood stacked by the stairs. I opened the door. It was small. Sparse. But cozy. Not much more than a cot and a sink and a fireplace. Billy walked in behind me, an arm full of wood.

“It’s just a couple hours.” He whispered. 

“I know....isn’t that a shame....” I whispered back, grinning at him as I peeled off my backpack and coat. He set about lighting a fire and I could tell it was no easy task because his fingers were just as cold as mine were. So I scoured the place for blankets. Found a bunch in a closet, pulled off what was on the bed, threw everything into a giant, plaid heap at the base of the fire. I thought about getting into my pajamas but honestly it was still so cold that I went to bed fully dressed in jeans and a tank top with a wool sweater. The whole nine. 

I was wrapped up so tightly that by the time Billy had stoked the fire and turned to take his coat off and look at me, he just laughed. I’m pretty sure only my eyes were showing. He tossed his coat onto the pile of blankets and made his way into them with me, still as dressed as I was. Denim on denim. True to form. 

We wrapped up in each other, laughing and shivering as the fire grew and we created enough friction between us to warm up our cocoon. We laid back onto the four or five pillows them at were under us and both noticed the sky light just over us. The moon shone through it like a postcard, random grey lines of clouds drifting past. We both watched it for awhile. The sounds of the crackling fire filling the place as the heat managed to as well. 

“You go ahead and sleep, I’ll keep an eye out for Santa.” Billy whispered, his voice groggy. I smirked at the idea of a grown man watching the sky for a sleigh and then turned into his side...eventually rolling onto him. I pulled my legs up around his waist and pressed my chin into his chest.

“What if I’m not tired?” I whispered, hooded eyes gazing up at him. He leaned down with a devilish grin.

“I was hoping you’d say that....” he whispered.

I don’t think we said another word. In the still of that moonlight and fire in what had to be the most perfect Christmas Eve ever, we fumbled together at each other’s clothes: we pulled at each other and kicked the fabric away until everything was bundled up in a ball somewhere in the mess of blankets and our slowly warming - and now naked - bodies were crushing together under the weight of them. Billy pulled me up until my face was at his and my hair spilled around him, tangling into his curls as he raised a hand to push some from my face and smiled so warmly I felt a part of myself melt a little. He pulled me into him and I kissed him like I was afraid I may never get another chance to. His mouth was so warm. I have always loved the taste of him. In that moment I remember thinking it was just him. No tequila, no smoke. Just...Billy. I felt his chest hot and heaving under me as I pressed against him. I also started to notice hard length against my stomach and I did everything I could to press against him and work him up. I was gradually shimmying up his body until my own hot center met his. He moaned as he felt me line up for him, more ready than I realized. He reached a hand deftly between us and tookhimself in his hand, running his tip against me until he was sure I was going to be ok. The way he moaned only made me more so, and I knew he wanted to be inside me as much as I wanted him there.

I inhaled deeply and held my breath there as I felt him gently easing into me. He pulled from our kiss and reared his head back. I watched him for a second, turned on by what my body could do to his, before I turned my attention to his neck and kissed him deeply as he whispered that he loved me into the air. Several times. “I love you Camilla...” he whispered it so much I wondered if he even knew he was saying it.I closed my arms around him and he slowly rolled us under the blankets until he was on top of me, holding a good portion of his body weight in the air with his right arm as his left hand held the side of my face. It was almost graceful they way he moved in and out of me. Such a strange juxtaposition to his usual “rough around the edges” vibe. 

That was my Billy. Soft. Gentle. Sober. Real.

I glanced down to watch him roll his hips against me, appearing and disappearing inside me as I cried out his name. I was lost in watching him when without any warning I felt him filling me. A dull throb and then a slow warmth that sent me over the edge as I felt my own body tugging at his. He fell onto me and I wrapped my arms and legs around him. We came together...silently, long and soft. His face was nuzzled into my neck and I told him how much I loved him. We quietly calmed together, still connected. 

“Merry Christmas.” He whispered into the dip of my neck, breaking me out in goosebumps. He ran a thick hand over my chest as it did, like he was warming me back up. He rolled only half way off of me and I felt his weight and breathing change as he drifted off to sleep. I watched him and I thought: this was our first Christmas together...but I don’t want to ever spend another one without him. So...I didn’t.

We slept there long and hard, like bears hibernating. The sun finally shone through the same sun light that had held the moon. And as my eyes opened gently, I noticed the still smoldering embers of fire next to us. And then I noticed that Billy was awake, still dutifully holding me, watching me.

“I was gonna give you five more minutes before I had to drag you to the car. I’m not calling your mom again.....”

I elbowed him as I stretched out long. Billy sat up and retrieved our clothes from the clumps at our feet and we slowly pulled them on. 

“Stop for coffee and breakfast on the way or drive right on through?” Billy asked as he pulled a t-shirt on before rifling through his bag to find a sweater to throw on over it that may be more substantial (and less wrinkled) than the button down we had slept with. 

“Can we grab coffee but skip food? You know my mom has breakfast ready....besides. I can’t wait to ride in our sweet new truck.” I was inchworming into my jeans as he ran his fingers through his impossibly messy hair before pulling a stocking cap down over it.

“Ohhhhhh, babygirl, do not get too excited.” He laughed and made his way to the bathroom as I picked up our things and bundled up. It was only six. We would be to my house by breakfast. I smiled as I realized we had managed the best of both worlds: Billy would never make love to me at my parent’s house. 

We grabbed our things and he stopped in the main desk, coming out with a goofy grin and twirling a pair of keys.

“Merry Christmas to us!” I shouted to him as I followed him around to the back and spotted this big monstrous old baby blue Ford truck.Honestly it was rustic and charming and he undersold it. More importantly it was safe and it had heat. We put our stuff in the back and Billy made a few trips to get things from the old car, loading the back of the pick up with presents until it looked like Santa’s redneck sleigh. He finally hopped in next to me with two cups of coffee from the front desk. I cooed as I wrapped my hands around mine to warm them.

“Well?” He asked as he fiddled with the radio and gauged my reaction. I looked around a long while JUST to make him sweat it. 

“I mean...there’s no room for car seats. But I like it.” I winked and he raised an eyebrow as he pulled the truck into reverse.

“Camilla Rodriguez... I would marry the shit out of you and spend the rest of my days looking forward to Christmas Eves like the one we just had. But don’t push it.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead. I curled into his side as Bing Crosby sang I’ll Be Home For Christmas.

Billy Dunne would marry the shit out of me. I knew he would. And I knew I’d love him for every Christmas I ever had. And I knew he was hung up on never being a good enough dad to have kids but I was going to change that. 

What I didn’t know? What neither of us knew? Was that as we pulled out of that cabin and drove home...I was pregnant with Julia. So my favorite Christmas Eve ever resulted in, well, the best Christmas present ever.


End file.
